"Goodbye to Love" - Carpenters

Pat, in your database you indicate 2 different versions of "The Singles 1969-1973". I believe there are 3.

The first one you list as A&M 3601. The 2nd one, a "remastered" version, you list as A&M 828393601.

I believe there are 2 different pressings of the 1st one (3601). My 2nd pressing of 3601 does not have an "82839" anywhere in the number system on the spine, booklet or CD itself, which makes me believe it is different from what you call the "remastered version" and therefore, there are 3 versions of this CD floating around.

The best way to decipher between these two "3601" versions that I have is on the song "Goodbye To Love" and where the start ID begins for the song.

On my first version, it has a longer (11 second) intro and the start ID begins on the word "down" (as in "rainy days & mondays always get me DOWN"). On the CD itself, under the "A&M +" sign, it says "Made in Japan". Under that, it says "CD-3601". [This is probably the 1st pressing.]

On my second version of this CD, there is a piano intro that is about half as long and clocks in just under 5 seconds. The start ID was re-configured to start with a smoother intro (and it starts on the second string line, not the first string line that has the word "down" overdubbed on top). The intro on this version has a smooth start, very natural, like a regular intro would, not the harsh beginning in version 1. On the CD itself, under the "A&M +" sign, it does not say "Made in Japan". Under that, it says 75021 3601 2, not "CD-3601". I don't believe this is your "remastered" 82839 version. [This is probably the 2st pressing of the non-remastered version.]

So in terms of the original (non-remastered version), you might want to make a note that there are 2 pressings, one that has a harsh intro start (and longer string intro of 2 lines) and the other with a smooth intro start (and shorter intro of 1 line).

Lastly, on the "Goodbye to Love" version on "Singles 1973 to 1981", which is one of the "piano re-recorded" versions, the speed is quite different than the versions with the original piano track. The whole song seems to be sped up on this version (and I assume on all "piano-rerecorded versions) so you might want to make an additional note on all those "piano re-recorded" versions that says "track sped up" -- assuming all are sped up like the "Singles 1973 to 1981" CD is. And it's quite a noticable difference in pitch so it should be fairly easy to determine if all those versions are sped up.

Yes, at the time of my discovery, I was only interested in finding the best version of "Goodbye To Love" - so I went through all my CDs. There could be other differences in other songs, too (especially knowing Richard Carpenter's desire to constantly remix his old songs). For clarity, this CD wasn't a Japanese import. But it must have been an early US pressing, back when U.S. CDs were virtually always made in Japan.

I feel if there is a significant pitch change then it should be mentioned in the database.

Yes, I meant "Singles 1969-1981".

In terms of the speed issues, I don't have the 45 -- I only noticed that my various CDs with this song seem to have its speed at two distinctly different speeds - one faster, one slower. I wasn't sure which speed is the actual 45 speed because I don't have the 45. However, since there are versions with re-recorded piano, I made the assumption that the speed on those was the "wrong" one and that the speed on the "original piano" recordings was the right speed, i.e. the 45 speed. But I could be wrong and have it backwards.

In summary, I don't know what the 45 speed is; I just know that there are two distinct speeds for this song -- on CDs in the database, and I feel the one that is distinctly OFF from the 45 speed should be indicated (whether the indication be "faster than the 45" or "slower than the 45".) Since you have the 45, Pat, it should be pretty easy to figure out which CDs have the wrong speed.

Here is the information on "Goodbye To Love" that I can report. Both the vinyl 45 and LP "A Song For You" state and run exactly (3:50). The cd version of "A Song For You" is slower than the vinyl counterpart and all cd's except for the original release of "The Singles 1969-1973" A&M 3601 run too slow.

Edited by Pat Downey